Pompey boss John Mousinho talks to The News ahead of Saturday's trip to Oxford United in the Championship.
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00:00You were critical about some aspects of your play last night, particularly the first half,
00:06despite Pomeranian having a huge win. Is that you setting your standards now for this side
00:10and expectations?
00:11Yeah, I think we've set them at times this season anyway and there have been plenty of
00:16times we've fallen way below that but particularly at home we've set really high standards. The
00:22biggest disappointment at times was I just thought we made really, really poor decisions
00:26in the moment. Sometimes when things aren't going well and sides are playing well against
00:30you it can be tough but I thought we caused ourselves a lot of issues. We shot ourselves
00:33in the foot a couple of times. Even when we had chances to settle the ball down to play
00:38on the counter-attack, a couple of times a couple of things stuck out of my head. We'd
00:41take a shot from 35 yards rather than sliding in a winger and making it a 1v1. That's just
00:46one example I can think of off the top of my head where we didn't stick to the script
00:50in terms of what we'd done really well for 20 minutes and we got punished for it and
00:54I thought we were clinging on going into half-time. I thought the analysis of the game
01:00in the moment, having watched it back, I'm pretty happy sticking with that. The second
01:04half was still a bit frantic but much more comfortable in terms of chances created I
01:09think for Cardiff. One of those I just think we need to set those standards high. You can't
01:16be happy with a performance like that even when we've won. You can't be happy on Saturday
01:21by not winning the game because you didn't put the ball in the back of the net even when
01:23it was a good performance. You need to put both together and then we're still going to
01:27find things we want to improve upon.
01:28Is that a case of you striving to be better?
01:30Yeah, we always have been. We've never been satisfied at any point this season whether
01:34we've won, lost or drawn and I think that's the way you have to approach things in professional
01:38sport. There's absolutely no use in patting yourself on the back and thinking you've cracked
01:42it. I think at that point you're in real trouble. We've always tried to strive for that at the
01:48Football Club ever since I've been here. I don't like to harp back on it too much but
01:53last year was the case in point. We were never happy after any point in the season until
01:58we did get promoted. It was always about improvement, about getting better. It's been about that
02:04this year but to a slightly different extent because we've had probably harsher lessons,
02:07more brutal lessons, more obvious lessons to learn and to take. It was a bit of a strange
02:13one last night because we won the game but there's still loads to take from it.
02:16Does that reflect the club though, what the club ambition is?
02:19Yeah, I think so. We don't want to be here to make up the numbers. We've been an interesting
02:28outfit I'd say this year from probably an external perspective. Some really, really
02:35good performances, some really, really poor performances and everything in between as
02:39well and too many of those poor performances. We're certainly striving to cut out those
02:44poor performances, cut out the ones that have really, really cost us. If we lose games,
02:49lose games in the right way. Same if we draw games, i.e. there's certain things that I'll
02:52accept on a football pitch and certain things that I don't think are acceptable. I think
02:56the fans are aligned with that. I think the Football Club's aligned with that. I think
02:58we're all very similar.
02:59From where you are in the league, can you stay just on your home form?
03:05Well, it's not something that we're actively thinking about because particularly with a
03:12couple of the previous performances away from home where we felt like over the past month,
03:17if you look at Sheffield tonight, I thought we were the better side. I don't think there
03:21was any doubt. We went up to Sunderland and we did all right. We could have nicked a point
03:25with 10 men. I thought we were fine for 60 minutes at Blackburn. There's been other performances
03:31that haven't been good enough, West Brom for example. So, we do need to make sure we cut
03:35out those big losses and our away record over the past eight to 10 games has been dreadful.
03:41It doesn't feel like it's something we can't turn around at all. I think we're close to
03:44turning it around. We were very, very close to turning it around at the weekend. And what
03:47we need to do is just make sure we do take some points away from home to help us out
03:50when we do come back home. So, yeah, that's not something we're actively thinking about.
03:54But every time we do play a game, particularly at home, we're going to win it.
03:58Because obviously, your away form puts more pressure on the home form, but you have been
04:01winning games at home.
04:03Yeah, and that's probably what we felt a bit last night. The pressure was there because
04:08we hadn't won in three, I think, or hadn't won in four. And two of those games were home
04:14games that we hadn't actually won in. So, we needed to make sure that we corrected that
04:18home form, one of them against Burnley, one of the top sides. So, no issue there.
04:21But that's the main feeling it has at times. We've come back to the frat and the pressure
04:27has been there, which is quite good. I think we've thrived under the pressure for the majority
04:30of the season. And I just think regardless of who we play and where we play, then there's
04:34going to be a lot of pressure on the football club to try and pick up points this year.
04:38So, what, there's seven away games left on there. So, you need to pick up points somewhere,
04:41don't you?
04:42Yeah, that's what it feels like. And yeah, we're going to strive to do that, absolutely
04:47strive to do that. And again, hopefully, like I said, the weekend was a positive step in
04:52the right direction.
04:54Shockingly, obviously, you're still waiting for the scan, aren't you? He's going to take
04:57a scan this afternoon, is that correct?
04:59Yeah, so he'll have a scan this afternoon and we'll get the results probably Friday.
05:02In terms of his performance since he's come back in this spell, how well has he done,
05:06do you feel?
05:07I think he's been excellent. I think he was outstanding when he came on against, I think
05:10it was Millwall for his first game back. Outstanding against Burnley. So, to hold one of the top
05:17sides in the league and to play as well as he did. I think the weekend against Sheffield
05:23United, another really, really strong performance. And last night he popped up with a winning
05:26goal and was part of a side that actually won probably one of the most crucial games
05:30of the season. So, I'm really, really happy for Connor in terms of his performance. He's
05:34coming back, just gutted that he's unfortunately broken down.
05:37And what's he done for your defence?
05:39Well, I think if we just look at it, the first thing that Connor's done is gone in
05:45there as a natural centre-half. We spoke about Marlon chopping back in there and how well
05:48he'd done and how big a contribution that he's had to us actually picking up points
05:54over the last two months. He did a fantastic job. I just think it was one of those where
05:58as soon as we had Connor back and we wanted to get him back into his position, get centre-half
06:02back in their positions and go from there. So, it certainly solidified the defence. I
06:06think he's looked very comfortable, looked very aggressive. And like I say, we're gutted
06:10to have lost him.
06:11So, you look at alternatives. So, Regan, Paul, what's the situation with him now?
06:15Regan trained fully today. Whether the weekend is too soon for him or not, I don't know.
06:19But if not, then it will be the QPR game.
06:22So, Hayden, Matthews, obviously a consideration to replace him.
06:25Yeah, we've got options. We've got Hayden. Marlon's obviously played there. We've got
06:30Riley as well. So, Riley, Regan coming back from injury. Connor Vogel can play at centre-half
06:35as well. So, I think we've got plenty of options.
06:38You praised Hayden last night as well.
06:39I thought he was really good. I thought he looked sharp. He covered the channels a couple
06:42of times really well. You saw an example of his athleticism when we countered. I think
06:47he got onto the end of his own header, defending a deep free kick and ended in a very good
06:52opportunity for us on the break. So, yeah, Hayden came in, did brilliantly well against
06:56Millwall. Unlucky to lose his place in the side but we thought the best thing to do was
06:59to bring shots back in. And, yeah, one of those where we're very, very excited and
07:05fortunate to have him in the building.
07:06So, Lernica, for him coming from Australia, do you think he's adapted well?
07:09I think he has. He got chucked straight into it against Millwall, one of the more physical
07:14sides in the league. A physical game, the way that we play, the way that they play as
07:19well. I thought he handled it really well. And I thought he handled it again really well.
07:23To be fair, I didn't notice him do anything wrong on Saturday when he came on. Same again,
07:29against Burnley. So, I thought he did a couple of really good things against Burnley. He's
07:31come and he's adapted really well. I just don't look at a player that looks out of place.
07:34Cassini-Yang, how is he at the moment?
07:36Cass is on the same programme as Regan. Trained fully today. Probably not available for the
07:41weekend but should be available next week.
07:43So, Cassini's in full training now then?
07:46First full training day today, yeah.
07:48We'll look at the time frame for him.
07:49Next week, yeah. Next week back.